Where to Go

Holidays by Destination North America USA Florida Where to Go 

The standard family choice to Florida is a week in Orlando and a week to recover, generally on the Gulf coast because of its gentler waters and long, wide and gently shelving beaches, within particularly easy driving distance at Clearwater and St Petersburg. Further south is, generally, less crowded, with more residential areas like Naples, and the quieter islands. The east with Miami and studenty resorts like Daytona and Fort Lauderdale, sees fewer families though at least one operator feels Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and parts of Palm Beach would be good as would be places within striking distance of the Everglades.

If you want to know more, the following aims to give an outline. Get a good guidebook for more detail. Florida The Rough Guide £8.99 is ideal. Broadly, all larger towns will have at least one museum designed for children and in the country park rangers are increasingly offering information for children.

Note that Atlantic waters in particular can be too rough for children (and sometimes cool). The Gulf or areas protected by offshore islands and reefs create safer swimming areas.

The Panhandle

The most northerly section, little visited, bordering Alabama and Georgia with distinct seasons, winter and spring cooler and crisper.
Pensacola in the west has a restored historic district plus one of the world's largest air museums. In the capital Tallahassee the Museum of Florida covers nearby Paleo-Indian burial and temple mounds.
Inland reserves include the wilderness Apalachicola National Forest. South of Tallahasse is Wakulla Springs, the world's deepest natural spring, visitable by glass-bottom boat plus cruises to visit alligators, birds and other wildlife. On the coast is St Mark's National Wildlife Refuge with a few black bear, deer, racoons and otters.

The biggest draw is beaches - white sand from Pensacola for almost 100 miles to Panama Beach, seriously commercialised. South St Josephs Bay sheltered by Cape San Blas and St Joseph Peninsula State Park, offer a contrast. Apalachicola has fine beaches on the barrier islands.

The Northeast Atlantic Coast

Offering more the atmosphere of the American south, to the north Amelia Island has 13 miles of beaches and towering dunes, plus an attractive Victorian town. At Fort Clinch rangers re-enact the 1864 occupation by Confederates the first weekend of the month.
South and slightly inland is St Augustine, founded 1565 and the oldest European settlement in the US with a castle and recreated Spanish quarter of eight reconstructed homes with “Spanish settlers” to explain things. St Augustine Beach is popular with families.
St Augustine Alligator Farm offers tropical birds monkeys, deer, ducks, giant tortoises and alligator show. Daytona offers lots of sand, used for early car races, and is attempting to move upmarket.
To the south is The Space Coast ie Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. This shares Merritt Island with a National Wildlife Refuge.

The Gulf Coast

To the north is the so-called Big Bend, of snoozing villages and mangrove swamps, (no beaches) plus a highly regarded native Indian ceremonial site at Crystal River State Archaeological Site with finds from 450 graves. Natural springs include Homossassa Springs State Wildlife Park with an underwater observatory, tropical jungle cruise, nature trails, alligator and crocodile feeding, a rehabilitation programme for the manatee (known as “sea cows”) and a nature museum. Weeki Wachee spring features a 200-acre “family entertainment park” with underwater theatre showing The Little Mermaid plus other child attractions. Tarpon Springs is a one-time Greek sponge fishing community.
The main city is Tampa with Adventure Island, a summer water theme park; Busch Gardens, a major 300-acre colonial Africa theme park; and Ybor City, a restored historic area. There's also a good Museum of Art.
South from Tampa are the barrier island beaches. The St Petersburg beaches are among the state's busiest as are Clearwater's. St Petersburg is home to the Salvador Dali Museum. Great Explorations offers hands on science. Few of the facing islands are undeveloped but Caladesi less than most.
Sarasota offers an early 20th Century Venetian gothic mansion of Ringling, the circus boss, and his fine collection of European baroque paintings. This area also sees quite a lot of package tourists and the barrier islands are probably overdeveloped.
The Gamble Plantation offers a glimpse of Old South life. Inland from Sarasota is the Myakka River State Park, explorable by walking trails or canoe.

Central Florida

This means Orlando and Walt Disney World, a location the size of Greater Manchester, hinging round the Disney Magic Kingdom . Even scoffers have to admire the psychological skills deployed. Bear in mind however that at least half the rides are unsuitable for younger children and there are height restrictions on the white knuckle ones.
Theme parks are at least traditional here.
Cypress Gardens opened in the ‘30s, (it includes Hug Haven with the likes of baby pumas to stroke) and the area now houses the greatest concentration of theme parks in the world - currently around 50.
Parks include Sea World (the state's best marine park with performances from a killer whale and chance to see the local Manatees); Universal Studios Florida (known for spectacular rides and facilities allowing visitors to create their own cartoon sound effects); plus the other Disney ventures like the futuristic EPCOT Center (involving a lot of walking and information); Disney-MGM Studios (should be OK for most ages but beware noise levels on the “backstage tour” with the very young).
Typhoon Lagoon, Pleasure Island, and Animal Kingdom are Disney's offerings for those who want a theme park break, instead looking at animals, swimming and strolling. (From April 2001 with a 1,293-room hotel with views over the park plus a games arcade, children's activity centre, children's pool and playground.)
To the south is Gatorland, with the likes of ‘gator wrestling, snakes of Florida show, petting zoo, kids' water park etc, or for a total change, Frank Lloyd Wright architecture at Florida Southern College.
To the north is Ocala National Forest, 375,000 acres of sub-tropical country and around 1,400 lakes - very busy in parts. In Ocala is Appleton Museum of Art, a rich industrialist's collection of art and excellent handicrafts and north Rawlings Home, offering an insight into the tough early life here. At McIntosh the 400-odd inhabitants dress up in Victorian clothes on holidays and escort visitors round their restored homes.

Southeast Florida

This is classic Florida with palms, tans and the state's fastest-growing residential area. The result is unadulterated high rise in parts.
Treasure Coast to the south includes Disney's first non theme park hotel at Vero Beach. The Gold Coast starts with the glitz of Palm Beach with more than 140 golf courses plus the 73-room Whitehall, where styles range from Vatican to Swiss billiard room. Boca Raton offers Mediterranean Revival buildings and fine beaches. The Singing Pines Children Museum has an early cottage and kids' exhibitions.
Fort Lauderdale is cultivating a smarter image than in the past. Nearby is probably preferable Hollywood with better beach and Museum of Archaeology with local Indian items among others. Inland is a rodeo complex and butterfly world.
By the ‘20s Miami Beach was fashionable for winter stays and there is now almost continuous coastal development. Coconut Grove has the US$15 million Villa Vizcaya (and opposite the Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium with interactive computers plus to the rear injured birds, tarantulas to pet and snakes). Miami Seaquarium has dolphins, whales, manatees etc. There are also Parrot Jungle and Monkey Jungle centres plus the Gold Coast Railroad Museum with locos to climb on. Alternatively there is the Old Spanish Monastery William Randolph Hearst had shipped in.
If not visiting the Keys a substitute is the Biscayne National Park, most beneath the sea.

The Keys

The 150 mile chain of islands and their waters are a National Marine Sanctuary, ideal for those wanting watersports including reef snorkelling and fishing. The must see is the Florida Reef of living coral and sea creatures.
The Keys are a place to meet dolphins. If you want to swim with them arrange it in advance. Dolphins Plus, Key Largo tel: (305) 451 1993 fax: 451 3710 focuses on environmental education as does The Dolphin Research Center, Marathon Shores tel: (305) 289 1121. Theater of the Sea tel: 305 664 2431 is one of the oldest marine life displays in the world with guided two-hour tours.
Dolphins are said to especially like children but at 7' are large and may smell of fish.
Key Largo is very developed (though the John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park with 78 square miles of protected reef is highly recommended) and Islamorada fairly so though nearby is Lignumvitae Key where a three-hour tour familiarises visitors with tropical trees, spiders and more. On Marathon the Museum of Natural History of the Florida Keys devotes a large section to introducing children to the fascinating keys' ecosystems.
The Lower Keys get fewer visitors but Key West is the main one with old homes and laid-back atmosphere, particularly at sunset when there are buskers, jugglers and fire eaters.

Southwest Florida

More miles of white beaches and hundreds of small islands. Fort Myers offers renovated period homes plus Thomas Edison's Winter Home with lab and museum with its inventions and tropical gardens. There is also the Museum of Science and Industry with hands on stuff and hurricane demonstration. Nearby is a reconstructed Seminole war fort.
Fort Myers beaches are not as crowded as some and inland is the Babcock Wilderness Adventures where you can see buffalo, turkey vultures and the rare Florida panther.
Sanibel is one of the more attractive islands, having outlawed high rises. Captiva is less developed and both offer lots of shells to collect.
South is Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary a small patch of a once much larger forest of 500-year-old cypresses and the Everglades National Park seldom more than a foot above sea level, is startlingly full of life on closer examination.